Month: April 2024
The Graduate School is looking for alumni, staff and PhD students to become mentors as part of the Activate Mentoring Programme.
Activate supports Minority Ethnic PhD students as well as recipients of the President’s Scholarships for students of Black heritage. From 2024-25, Activate will also support disabled PhD students and recipients of the Master’s Scholarships for disabled students.
Now in its third year, Activate aims to support under-represented groups by improving the student experience, increasing retention, developing a peer community amongst activate mentors/mentees, supporting career development and creating a deeper sense of belonging.
As an Activate mentor, you will:
- Receive comprehensive training to support you in your role
- Be able to use evidence from your mentoring experience towards Associate/Fellowship of Advance HE
- Expand your professional and cultural perspective and professional networks
- Receive recognition for your involvement in a programme of strategic importance to Imperial
- Be able to share your experiences with other mentors and mentees through group cohort activities
- Join part of a community of mentors and mentees who will be part of the programme
- PhD students who become mentors will be paid the GTA higher rate of pay for their time.
Applications from staff, alumni and PhD students who can offer experience, insight and guidance to support the aims of Activate are most welcome.
Find out more about becoming an Activate mentor and download the application form.
The deadline for applications to be submitted is 5pm Friday 7 June 2024.
If you have any queries about Activate, please contact Laura Lane (l.lane@imperial.ac.uk)
Join us for the second event in our Black to the Future series to celebrate the achievements of UK Black researchers. Hear from 4 prominent speakers from across academia and industry in a series of TED style talks discussing the exciting research being carried out by Black researchers in the UK.
Talks will be followed by a mixer, with refreshments and networking.
Date: Thursday, May 9 2024
Time: 2-6pm
Location: Sir Alexander Fleming Building
Are you a Black heritage MRes, PhD, Post-doc or recent PhD alumni? Do you want to embark on a transformative journey of connection, growth, and empowerment? Apply today for this one-day event, curated to provide you with a supportive environment in which to foster connections with other Black researchers from across the UK.
This interactive event will provide you with a forum to amplify your voice and to share your experiences, challenges, accomplishments and milestones within your research.
Date: Thursday, May 9 2024
Time: 9:30am – 1:45pm
Location: Sir Alexander Fleming Building
The Dyslexia/SpLD team can support you in identifying any indicators of a specific learning difficulty (SpLD):
- Dyslexia
- Characteristics of dyspraxia/developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD)
- Dyscalculia
- Characteristics of AD(H)D as an SpLD
To book a screening, please see the website
There is very good availability for both online and in person SpLD screenings throughout May.
Imperial Social Scientists: Community Event
Are you a PhD or Early Career Researcher in the social sciences?
Want to connect with other social scientists across Imperial, reflect on being a social scientist in a STEMM setting, and enjoy some great food?
Dear PhD students and Early Career Researchers,
I am pleased to invite you to our flagship Imperial Social Scientists Community Event.
When? Monday 10 June 2024, 11:00 – 14:00
Where? HXLY 341 (Huxley Building Level 3, South Kensington Campus)
What? We are lucky to be joined by Dr. Stephen Webster, who will be providing some reflections and insights about navigating a social science identity in a STEMM institution. Refreshments and lunch will be provided, and an opportunity to collaborate with other PhD and Early Career researchers through both guided and informal interactive activities.
Who? Anyone who is either a PhD or Early Career Researcher undertaking a project that broadly fits under the ‘social sciences’ umbrella.
Why? Being a social scientist in a STEM institution has many unique benefits, but it can be isolating with so few of us across the institution. We are forced to push the boundaries of our identities as researchers, as we question the ‘divide’ between the natural and the social sciences. Part of that work, of course, includes showing the importance of the social sciences to Imperial’s success as a STEM innovator. The aim of this event is to bring us together to form a community of early career social scientists across Imperial, so that we can make connections with one another, reflect on the relationship between the natural and the social sciences, and discuss together our research questions.
How? If you are interested and would like to attend, please complete this signup form no later than Monday 20thMay at 17:00.
The Generative AI and The Knowledge Economy Symposium is back for the second year and registrations are now officially open!
The Symposium will be held on 20/21 May 2024 and is part of the ongoing DSI Squared partnership – a collaboration between the Data Science Institutes from Imperial College London and The London School of Economics and Political Science.
This year the theme of the Symposium will be ‘Making Generative AI Work Well: Tackling Effectiveness, Safety and Integrity’.
Day 1 will take place at Imperial College London’s South Kensington Campus and will feature technical talks on the state of AI, accountability and transparency and developing safe and responsible AI.
Day 2 will be held at The London School of Economics and will consist of a series of panel discussions on the impact of generative AI on health, sustainability and education. Find out more about the panel discussions on the LSE website.
We will have a great lineup of speakers, the full list of which will be announced soon so stay tuned!
This event is open to all Imperial and LSE staff and students, with a proportion of tickets for external attendees.
Open Research, Research Data Management, Open Access and Symplectic training for researchers new to Imperial
23 May, 10:00–12:00, online via MS Teams
This training session aimed at researchers new to Imperial will include an introduction to open research, and its principles, practices and benefits. It will situate research data management (RDM) and open access (OA) within the context of open research, and give further details on RDM and OA policies and procedures, including data management plans, funder and institutional policies, information about depositing papers in Imperial’s repository Spiral, open access funding available at Imperial, and advice on using Symplectic Elements.
Please email r.hibbert@imperial.ac.uk if you would like to be sent the meeting invite, or if you are not able to attend and would like to be added to a list to receive a recording of the session.
The SSCP DTP has some funds from NERC to plan a series of engagement activities this summer for school students, with the aim of interesting them in a career in the environmental sciences. We are seeking PhD students who are working on environmental science/climate research who would be interested in paid outreach opportunities for two strands of this project. Students will be paid for their time at the casual worker rate of £19.94/hr, and will also be compensated for any travel, materials or meals.
Please fill out this form to confirm interest: https://forms.office.com/e/0VB7HRcf1u?origin=lprLink
For any questions, please email Laila Kasuri (l.kasuri23@imperial.ac.uk) and cc Tori Halling (v.halling@imperial.ac.uk).
A celebration of Imperial geotechnics spanning six decades of researchers and staff
On 12th March we welcomed six decades of researchers and staff from the Imperial Geotechnics back to the Civil Engineering department building. With over 100 sign-ups, this highly anticipated event welcomed researchers spanning graduates from the 1970s all the way to current PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, administrative, technical, teaching and research staff. With a long legacy of pioneering research in the section, we felt it was important to maintain and foster links between current researchers with the giants on whose shoulders we now stand.
We showcased on-going research through poster presentations, caught up with our recently graduated friends and established new links with our distinguished alumni, many of whom now hold prominent positions in industry and academia. We also took the opportunity to celebrate the latest achievements in the section, most notably Prof. Zdravkovic as the 62nd Rankine Lecturer.
Figure 1 Imperial College Geotechnics reunion
We welcomed our alumni guests into the Mezzanine lab at 6pm after an afternoon cleaning, clearing and setting up the event space. On arrival, we asked everyone to place a pin on a map of the world (geological, of course) so we could highlight the geographical diversity of the section’s current and former members. We were all pleasantly surprised by how far some have travelled to attend the reunion (and of course the annual Rankine lecture on the next day), with strong showings from Europe, East Asia, and Latin America.
Fourteen research posters, showcasing the forefront of the section’s current research, were pinned up along one wall of the room. These attracted plenty of attention and prompted a host of discussion topics amongst current researchers as well as former members of the section. As many hails from technical roles in industry and academia, soil mechanics and engineering geology are highly relevant disciplines in their day-to-day work which resulted in a healthy cross-pollination of ideas.
Enabled by the support from the Graduate School, a catered fork buffet and a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were enjoyed by all in attendance soon after. We (the PhD students) did have to do a few rounds of washing wine glasses (before the event and the morning after!), as budget constraints meant we had to be resourceful with the drinks provision. However, with help from our brilliant technical and administrative staff Prash, Jess, Luke and Piotr, the hard work all paid off in the end with many sending us messages of gratitude after the event.
We rounded off the evening with a presentation of gifts for Prof. Lidija Zdravkovic who had been invited to deliver the 62nd Rankine Lecture the following day. This is the preeminent technical lecture in the geotechnical engineering field, and she follows a long tradition of members of Rankine Lecturers from Imperial College.
Figure 2 Geographic diversity of some of our alumni and current research group
This event brought the whole research section together and provided what felt like a family reunion for many former members of the section! Anecdotes from many former doctoral journeys were fondly reminisced upon over the evening, despite the ample sweat and tears shared with colleagues from years past. For us as the current cohort of researchers, the event was not only an opportunity to showcase our work but also highlighted the myriad possibilities in our own future careers and trajectories.
The Graduate School’s Research Community Fund helped to cover a portion of the costs associated with the research posters and catering. We also received generous funding from the section which enabled us to host such an enjoyable and fruitful evening of discussion and networking.
Figure 3 Happy faces in front of snippets of the geotechnics section’s current research